Texas
Matthew McConaughey, Dennis Quaid, Woody Harrelson push to make Texas new Hollywood
Hollywood A-listers Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton and Renée Zellweger are hoping to make Texas “the new Hollywood.”
The stars united for a new ad from the True to Texas initiative to encourage filmmakers to move productions to the state, and lobby state officials for financial incentives to make the move appealing.
McConaughey and Harrelson took inspiration from their “True Detective” characters in the clip, under the direction of the series director, Nic Pizzolatto.
“Hollywood is flat circle, Woody,” McConaughey muses in the clip. “This industry is like somebody’s memory of an industry. I’m talking about a whole new hub for film and television. A renaissance. A rebirth.”
Matthew McConaughey, Dennis Quaid, Woody Harrelson, starred in an ad encouraging filming in Texas. (Rick Kern/Jacky Godard/Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/)
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY DITCHED HOLLYWOOD FOR TEXAS, TURNED DOWN $14.5M OFFER AFTER BEING DUBBED ‘ROM-COM DUDE’
“A small fraction of Texas budget surplus to turn this state into the new Hollywood,” Harrelson later adds.
Quaid, Thornton and Zellweger add information and commentary about the benefits of filming in Texas, and they focus on the positive financial impact on the state to make their case.
Renée Zellweger and Billy Bob Thornton also appeared in the ad, appealing to the Texas state government to boost tax incentives for filming. (Mike Marsland/Alberto E. Rodriguez)
“Texas stories deserve a Texas backdrop. That’s why I teamed up with Dennis Quaid, Woody Harrelson, Billy Bob Thornton and Renée Zellweger for True to Texas. It’s time to bring film and TV productions home!” McConaughey wrote in a post on X sharing the ad.
Quaid shared the ad on his Instagram as well.
APP USERS CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
“Filming in Texas isn’t just about showcasing our stunning landscapes—it’s about creating jobs, boosting local economies, and building a thriving industry right here at home,” he wrote in the caption. “I was proud to collaborate with Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Billy Bob Thornton, and Renée Zellweger to shine a spotlight on how Texas can lead the way in film production. I was also proud to have the great Nic Pizzolatto direct this spot.”
He added, “Let’s keep the cameras rolling and the economy growing—because everything’s bigger (and better) in Texas!”
Productions like the Taylor Sheridan-created series “Yellowstone” and its spinoffs “1883,” “1923” and “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” starring Quaid, have all filmed in Texas, as well as his latest series, “Landman,” starring Thornton, with its story set in the state’s oil industry.
Last week, the Texas senate announced that it had filed a budget that includes $498 million to revamp the state’s film incentives, “making Texas the movie capital of the world” per the office of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s press release. The budget consists of “$48 million in grants for small films and TV commercials, and up to $450 million in new tax credits, including Texas residency requirements for workers.”
Taylor Sheridan has been leading the Texas production boom with shows like “Yellowstone” and “Landman.” (Emerson Miller/Paramount+)
‘YELLOWSTONE,’ ‘TWISTERS’ SHOW FILMMAKERS WITH NO ‘HIDDEN AGENDA’ CHOOSING HEARTLAND OVER HOLLYWOOD
As Texas’ popularity grows with celebrity support, Hollywood itself has been struggling.
Filming in Los Angeles dropped to a historic low in 2024, down 5.6 percent from the previous year, per a report from FilmLA, the city’s film office, making it the least productive year on their record, second only to 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. The report cited, “combined effects of runaway production, industry contraction and slower-than-hoped-for post-strike recovery” as the reason for the low numbers.
The devastating fires that broke out in early January have also contributed to worry about the state of production in the city, prompting a petition called “Stay in LA.”
A house burns as the Palisades Fire rages on in Mandeville Canyon, in Los Angeles, California, on January 11, 2025. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton )
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
“We were already deeply worried about the livelihoods of Los Angeles area cast and crew, not to mention the countless small businesses suffering from production moving out of state and overseas. The fires have made a desperate situation worse. We are terrified that the city we love so much may lose its most vital resource: its people. We need a flood of new work to help our beloved city rebuild itself and ensure LA’s future viability as a place where craftspeople, film workers, and businesses thrive,” the organization, started by Alexandra Pechman and Sarah Adina Smith, states on their page.
The petition asks state government leadership to uncap tax incentives for the next three years for productions filming in Los Angeles County and asks studios and streamers to pledge to film 10% more in the city over that same time period. It also praised Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposal to increase California’s own tax incentives for filming to $750 million.
Among those are celebrities like Keanu Reeves, Kevin Bacon, Olivia Wilde and many, many more being added every day, according to Deadline.
Keanu Reeves was one of many celebrities to sign a petition to keep production in Los Angeles. (Dave J Hogan)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Last month, President Donald Trump appointed Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight as Special Ambassadors to Hollywood, with the purpose of promoting business in the industry.
Mel Gibson is one of President Trump’s Hollywood ambassadors, and recently said on “Hannity” that he thinks the situation “can be fixed.” (Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage/Getty Images)
While appearing on “Hannity,” Gibson addressed the issue of work leaving the city, saying, “[People] are going somewhere else, because it’s more cost-effective. There [are] just a lot of prohibitive regulations and things in the way that I think could be lifted. . . . But I think it can be fixed.”
“I know Newsom gave some tax incentives, but maybe not enough, because it’s still not working. There are other things that offset that,” he added later.
Josh Bell hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Byron Buxton went deep for the 23rd time this season, leading off the sixth, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Texas Rangers 4-2 on Monday night.
All six runs in the game came off homers, with Texas’ Joc Pederson delivering a two-run shot in the third off rookie Mike Paredes.
Minnesota’s 25-year-old left-hander fell an out short of his first major league win in his second start among four career appearances since May 31. Paredes allowed four hits and two runs in 4 2/3 innings.
Buxton has homered in six of his past nine games to get within one of major league leaders Yordan Alvarez of Houston and Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber.
Four Twins relievers held Texas to one hit over the final 4 1/3 innings, starting with Taylor Rogers (3-3) striking out Pederson, the only batter he faced, to end the fifth.
Andrew Morris pitched a perfect sixth, Eric Orze allowed a single over 1 2/3 innings and Yoendrys Gómez retired the final four Texas batters for his second save in two days and seventh of the season, six coming with Minnesota.
Josh Smith came off the bench for the Rangers in his first appearance since May 3, fouling out to catcher Alex Jackson on the only pitch he saw from Orze. Smith’s six-week absence started with a glute strain and wrist inflammation before he was hospitalized with viral meningitis.
Kyler Fedko made his major league debut for the Twins as the left fielder. The 26-year-old went 0 for 4, striking out his first two times up against Texas left-hander Mackenzie Gore, who struck out a season-high 10 in seven innings. Gore (4-6) allowed four hits and four runs with two walks in seven innings.
Up next
Twins RHP Zebby Matthews (2-4, 5,20 ERA) faces Texas RHP Kumar Rocker (2-5, 3.56) on Tuesday.
Sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez hit for the cycle in a 14-2 Texas victory. He became the third player
The Big 12 has started down the legal path to potentially sanction Texas Tech over its intention to play quarterback Brendan Sorsby.
On Monday, the conference filed a 47-page complaint against Texas Tech, the Texas attorney general, the system’s chancellor, the school president and athletic director in seeking declaratory judgement and a preliminary injunction to enable it to enforce its bylaws.
Advertisement
In this landmark case — a league filing legally against one of its members — the Big 12 is asking a federal court to bar Texas Tech and the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, from preventing the conference from “exercising its right under its bylaws to sanction Texas Tech,” according to the complaint obtained by Yahoo Sports, which was filed in the Northern District of Texas in Dallas.
The league is not seeking damages in the filing and is not challenging a state court ruling deeming Sorsby eligible, but is instead asking a federal judge to permit it to take action against the Red Raiders in light of legal threats made from the Texas attorney general, whose letter to the league last week seems to have triggered the Big 12’s filing. The letter from Paxton’s office demanded that the league refrain from exercising its governance authority, characterizing any sanction as an antitrust violation and threatening joint liability against the conference.
Perhaps most notably, the complaint lays out the conference’s intention to sanction Texas Tech if it were to play Sorsby, who has acknowledged to betting on his own team while a freshman at Indiana, violating one of sports’ most sacred policies.
According to the filing, Big 12 conference officials, university presidents and athletic directors have requested that Tech not play Sorsby, but “TTU has not agreed,” resulting in the conference considering a variety of sanctions. Big 12 presidents and chancellors are scheduled to meet later Monday afternoon, though a decision on sanctions is not necessarily expected then.
Advertisement
“If a vote were to occur however,” the complaint says, “some of the potential sanctions the Board could consider under the bylaws include monetary sanctions and/or a ban on competing in the Big 12 Championship Game.”
There is “considerable concern” within the Big 12 that the league will incur “reputational harm and irreparable damage to public and member trust in the integrity of league compensations” if Sorsby were to play and is concerned that the Red Raiders would “take a spot” from another school in the league championship game “with a player that has acted contrary” to conference values.
“In an industry that rarely agrees on anything, there is finally an issue that everyone seems to agree on (other than TTU and the Attorney General): universities should not field players who have bet on their own team’s games in college athletics,” the Big 12 writes in the filing.
The league is asking a federal judge to grant an injunction to allow it to exercise its “First Amendment” rights to invoke its authority under its bylaws, dismiss Paxton’s claims that any sanction is an antitrust violation and grant it the right to penalize a member school for violating the dormant Commerce Clause, which prevents state governments from enacting laws that impact competition or commence across a variety of states.
Advertisement
“The threat that gambling poses to the integrity of athletic competition has been understood — and has been borne out by scandal — for over a century,” the complaint reads. “That history informs the Conference’s values and governance practices and explains why these values are non-negotiable.”
The complaint lists as defendants Paxton, Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University System, chancellor Brandon Creighton, president Lawrence Schovanec and athletic director Kirby Hocutt.
When reached on Monday, Big 12 officials declined to comment on the filing.
The Sorsby case has gripped college athletics.
Advertisement
A Texas court judge’s decision last Monday to prohibit the NCAA from enforcing its rule to permanently ban Sorsby from playing college football sent shockwaves through the college community, with one Big 12 athletic director even calling it “total f***ing bulls***” and at least two schools boycotting playing Tech in future competitions.
The NCAA denied Sorsby’s request to have his eligibility reinstated after he acknowledged wagering on his own team. In all, Sorsby acknowledged to making at least $90,000 from thousands of impermissible wagers during his college career, which spanned from Indiana to Cincinnati to, now, Texas Tech, which signed him to a one-year contract believed to be worth at least $4 million annually.
Advertisement
Even after enrolling at Tech, Sorsby admitted to sending about $5,000 to another person to place bets on his behalf. Upon the NCAA starting an investigation into the quarterback this spring, Sorsby enrolled in treatment for sports gambling addiction and anxiety.
After news emerged that the Big 12 was considering sanctioning Tech, Paxton’s office sent a letter to the league Thursday.
“The Big 12 is concerned with TTU’s stated plans — communicated by TTU to the Conference and now backed by independent threats from the Attorney General — to field a student-athlete in Conference competitions despite admitted wagering conduct that is both illegal and in direct conflict with the ethical standards and public trust on which Big 12 competition depends,” the complaint says.
“The Big 12 and its Member Institutions (apparently save TTU) have no interest in being required to endorse or even appearing to endorse unethical and indeed unlawful conduct that strikes at the heart of athletic integrity,” the suit reads.
-
Los Angeles, Ca1 hour agoSuspicious item leads to closure of Metro station on Tuesday morning
-
Detroit, MI2 hours agoHow to celebrate Juneteenth in Metro Detroit
-
San Francisco, CA2 hours agoHeadlines, June 16 – Streetsblog San Francisco
-
Dallas, TX2 hours ago
Mailbag: Is Lawrence expected to start?
-
Miami, FL2 hours agoNaked man burglarized Miami Beach apartment and battered detective, cops say
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoTwo Ex-Red Sox Are Suddenly Thriving Again After Leaving Boston
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoDenver police investigate early morning shooting in Capitol Hill neighborhood
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoSeattle weather: Cooling down Tuesday, highs in the 70s
